Mostly About Organized Crime

11/25/2014

La Cantina restaurant in the north end Italian section of Montreal, QB Canada was firebombed last night as reported by CTV News: "according to several sources, Vito Rizzuto, the former Mafia boss of Montreal, was a regular at La Cantina," and "in August 2009, co-owner Federico Del Peschio, a Rizzuto clan associate, was shot dead in the back of the restaurant."

Del Peschio previously had been convicted on drug charges, and La Cantina "was described, during the 2002 trial of a Montreal lawyer charged with [and later acquitted of] drug smuggling for the Rizzuto clan, as a known hangout for drug traffickers" as previously reported by The Edmonton Journal.

Mob watchers suspect that the 'Ndrangheta or Calabrian Mafia has backed a breakaway group from the Rizzuto clan of the Sicilian Mafia for control over the drug rackets in Montreal and New York, and the turf war has resulted in dozens of murders over the last few years.

Vito Rizzuto, an oft-described "drug trafficking mastermind," died last year from lung cancer. The mob boss was released from a U.S. prison in 2012 after serving several years on a racketeering conviction involving the 1981 murders of three Bonanno capos in New York City, and while he was doing time the mob rebellion claimed his son Nick Jr. in 2009 and family patriarch Nicolo in 2010.

Police suspect the Rizzuto rebellion was led by Raynald Desjardins. Desjardins currently is in prison awaiting trial for his alleged role in the November 2011 slaying of ex-Bonanno boss Salvatore "Sal the Ironworker" Montagna who police suspect had allied himself with the breakaway group until the relationship soured.

Earlier this year Italian and American police arrested dozens of suspected mobsters on both sides of the Atlantic for their alleged roles in a joint drug smuggling plot between the Gambino family and the Calabrian Mafia.

It's been a tough year for the Rizzuto clan while Vito Rizzuto – the son of Nicolo and reputed boss – serves a ten-year term at a federal penitentiary in Florence, CO following his 2007 racketeering conviction involving the 1981 murder of three Bonanno capos in NYC. Last December Nick Rizzuto Jr. – Nicolo's namesake and Vito's son – was gunned down. And a slew of other top leaders have met similar fates. Last September associate Ennio Bruni was gunned down; last July family leader Agostino Cuntrera and his driver and body guard Liborio Sciascia were shot to death; last June reputed consigliere Paolo Renda apparently was kidnapped into oblivion; and in August 2009 associate Frederico Del Peschio was murdered.

Investigators believe that interloping 'Ndrangheta or Calabrian mobsters from Ontario – perhaps with the blessing of some boys from New York – may be responsible for the ongoing massacre against the Sicilian Montreal Mafia. The Rizzuto legacy has come to an inglorious end, and retired RCMP intelligence analyst Pierre de Champlain stated: "It's the end of the Rizzuto crime family. The killing is probably not over, but the family is finished."

11/09/2010

Earlier this month former Bonanno underboss Salvatore Vitale was rewarded by the feds for his cooperation, and it turns out that Good Looking Sal not only was responsible for bringing down his own crime family in NYC but also the Montreal Mafia and its reputed boss Vito Rizzuto as reported by Adrian Humphreys for the National Post: "His evidence was . . . crucial in the U.S. obtaining the extradition of Rizzuto for his role in three gangland murders in New York that took place in 1981. Vitale and Rizzuto were two of four gunmen who burst into a Brooklyn social club and killed three rebellious [Bonanno] mob captains. The murders were colourfully recreated in the Hollywood movie Donnie Brasco, starring Al Pacino and Johnny Depp." Vitale further dished the dirt on the Montreal Mafia to Canadian investigators who in 2006 pursuant to Project Colisee arrested Vito's father Nicolo Rizzuto, his brother-in-law Paolo Renda, and "a wide swath of the criminal organization's leadership and foot soldiers."

It's been a tough year for what has remained of the Montreal Mafia. Last September associate Ennio Bruni was gunned down; last July family leader Agostino Cuntrera and his driver and body guard Liborio Sciascia were shot to death; last June reputed consigliere Paolo Renda apparently was kidnapped into oblivion; last December Nick Rizzuto Jr. was gunned down; and in August 2009 associate Frederico Del Peschio was murdered. Investigators believe that interloping 'Ndrangheta or Calabrian mobsters from Ontario may be responsible for the ongoing massacre against the Sicilian Montreal Mafia, and the latter is powerless to defend its turf with reputed boss Vito serving a ten-year term at a federal penitentiary in Florence, CO and many of his purported Bonanno allies from NYC similarly incapacitated. The Rizzuto legacy comes to an inglorious end.

11/06/2010

Things have gone to hell in a hand basket for the Montreal Mafia since 2007 when its reputed boss Vito Rizzuto was convicted in the United States on racketeering charges involving the 1981 murders of three Bonanno crime family capos as reported by Henry Aubin for The Gazette: "No one knows who'll fill the void left by Rizzuto." In the last year opportunists – most likely interloping 'Ndrangheta or Calabrian mobsters from Ontario – have popped off several individuals tied to the Sicilian Rizzuto clan to exploit the power vacuum left by Vito as he serves a ten-year term in a federal penitentiary in Florence, CO. Last September associate Ennio Bruni was gunned down; last July family leader Agostino Cuntrera and his driver and body guard Liborio Sciascia were shot to death; last June reputed consigliere Paolo Renda apparently was kidnapped into oblivion; last December Nick Rizzuto Jr., the son of the imprisoned reputed boss, was gunned down; and in August 2009 associate Frederico Del Peschio was murdered. And Vito Rizzuto's purported friends in New York City apparently are just sitting back and letting it all happen.